Sportsdude360

"Iron Medusa"!!!!!

Ok, so throw a test seat out front and add seatbelts. Do whatever, just get NTAG back up and running again. That coaster's too awesome to be SBNO for this long. Same for Shockwave, get these rides open.

Take my word for it, Iron Rattler rides just as awesome as it looks! Now that it's open again you definitely need to get back down to San Antonio.

Great news about Iron Rattler!! I was fortunate enough to ride iRat back in early July, so I know how great this coaster is. I'm happy for everyone who'll finally get a chance to ride iRat as well. Here's hoping that NTAG will soon follow.

I can't help but wonder if SFOT would have been more hospitable had that accident not happened. It seems to me that the park has been devastated by this tragedy. During my earlier visits to the park this year everything seemed to be ok. Operations were fine and the park itself seemed to be running smoothly. Since SFOT is my home park, I can't help but feel terrible about the bad treatment TPR received. Here's hoping that SFOT manages to overcome all this and return to it's former glory.

^That's hard to say, but it may be some time. Right now SFOT seems to be in a huge tailspin over the accident. Here's hoping the park can recover and get back on it's feet.

Cool restraints on Outlaw Run. I wonder if NTAG and iRat will get those kind of restraints. Thing is, I've seen plenty of larger sized guests ride NTAG and even iRat without any problem. I personally can't wait until SFOT concludes it's investigation into the accident on NTAG. The results should prove most interesting indeed.

^Well, whatever they are, the park needs to do something about them.

I'm sorry to hear the bad news about SFOT. When I visited last week it was obvious that the park has been hit hard by the accident. So, did everyone at least try out the Texas Skyscreamer?

^ So what were they after on iRat's lift hill. Neither I nor the guy next to me had anthing "sugary" in our posession at the time. Although I'm a sweet natured guy, I'm not that sweet. Yeah, I'm thinking they were yellow jackets, they seemed larger than normal bees. And yes, they were very aggressive. Another thing, shouldn't the city health department step in? A yellow jacket infested theme park has to got to be some sort of health code violation.

Did anyone have any trouble with bees during their visit? The 2 days I spent at the park in July, the bees were eating the guests alive! Everywhere I turned guests were trying to shoo bees away from their drinks in souvenir cups and such. This happened to me whilst I was in line for Skyscreamer. Bees were after my souvenir cup full of Poweraid. This happened again on the way up the lift hill on Iron Rattler. Even though I didn't have my souvenir cup at the time, bees kept coming at both me and the guy next to me. We kept fighting them off until we finally started down the first drop. Has this happened to anyone else? Maybe I just picked a bad couple of days to visit the park.

Those guys seem a tad insensitive for my tastes. I'd hate for the family of the deceased to hear this.

^Texas Skyscreamer should be first. It can have as much as an hour and a half wait later on. And, since it's new, guests will generally head for it right after the park opens. JRS, by comparison, isn't nearly as popular and is generally a walk on.

So? Thank you captain obvious for that comment. Doesn't change the fact that someone shouldn't ride. Yes, I agree completey. I didn't mean to suggest that larger guests should be permitted to ride regardless of their size. I completely withdraw my earlier remarks if they are deemed inappropriate in any way.

Being overweight is not always a lifestyle choice. There are both medical and hereditary conditions which can result in a tendency to be overweight.

Yup, the only ride allowed to be built after are Japanese Jet coasters with catwalks all over the layout. The future of the roller coaster. Yikes!

Having ridden both NTAG and Iron Rattler, I can tell you that they both have the exact same type of Gerstlauer trains. The hydraulic restaint systems on both rides are identical. Only the theming is different. Because of this, Iron Rattler was closed as a precautionary measure following the tragic events at SFOT last Friday. It will likely remain closed until such times as the investigation into the accident has been concluded and both rides can be certified as safe for operation. I hope this helps.

Thanks for that great interview Robb. You can bet I'll be getting back on NTAG as well, as soon as it re-opens.

Just came back from the park, pretty crowded for a Monday. I noticed many guests taking pics of NTAG. It's obviously gotten to be quite famous, but for the wrong reasons. There wasn't much happening around NTAG itself, save for a sign stating that the ride was "Temporarily Closed". The train was running again so I took a few pics. Near the area where the tragedy occured. This sign greeted park guests. That banking turn might have been where the accident occured . Black tarp covered the loading station. Near the area where Rozy Esparza fell out of the train. The once mighty Texas Giant has fallen silent. How many times have I walked up these stairs over the years? The Giant is silent. The black tarp seems appropriate. My favorite pic of NTAG.

It was stated that the woman panicked. I wonder if, in her panic, she actually tried to free herself from the restraints.

I'll try to get out to the park tomorrow. I'm curious as to how busy the park will be, as well as the media circus.

^^^^If that's anything like what happened to Rozy then there's no way she should have been permitted to ride.

Has anyone suggested the possibility that the woman might have panicked during the ride and attempted to free herself from the restraints? I saw a news report years ago where a man panicked on a stalled Ferris Wheel. He actually managed to free himself from the lapbar holding him in and nearly fell to his death before workers could get to him.

Exactly what do you mean by "morbidly obese"? I have seen very large people ride NTAG on any number of ocasions without incident. The ride ops just about always push the hydraulic restraints down as far as they'll go. In fact, I'm always complaining about being stapled. Same thing happened last week when I was riding Iron Rattler at SFFT. The ops kept stapling me on every ride. I find it hard to believe that ride ops would take that kind of a chance with people who are obese enough to circumvent the restraints. Anyone that big should be asked not to ride for their own safety.

NTAG stands for New Texas Giant.